News Release

October 21, 2003

Documentary filmmaker to give talk at U of G

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Janis Cole will screen her film P4W: Prison for Women and will discuss filmmaking in Canada Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in Room 120 of the MacKinnon Building. The event is free and open to the public.

The event is part of the 2003-2004 College of Arts speaker series on "Film and Literature." The goal of the series is to expose the community to the world of filmmakers, screenwriters and authors. The lecture is co-sponsored by the School of English and Theatre Studies and the U of G Alumni Association.

"Janis Cole has had a profound effect on documentary filmmaking in Canada," said PhD candidate Debra Henderson, former deputy director of the Canadian Film Centre and former director of the education and training department at the American Film Institute. "Her work is challenging and gritty and not easily forgotten. Together with her filmmaking partner, Holly Dale, Janis gives voice to those who live on the margins of society."

Cole has been making films for 28 years and has represented Canadian cinema at film festivals worldwide, including in Tokyo, Australia, Switzerland, France and Israel. She was the inaugural writer-in-residence at the Toronto International Film Festival's screenwriter mentorship program and currently teaches writing at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Cole has won several awards for both her screenwriting and filmmaking, including a Genie for P4W, the Bronze Plaque Award for script at the Columbus Film Festival and a Top 10 Award from the Writers Guild of Canada for writing the CBC television movie Dangerous Offender. Her film Shaggie received the Toronto International Film Festival's Best Short Film award. The Canadian Film and Television Association honoured Cole with the Theatrical Producers Achievement Award, and she is the recipient of a Toronto Arts Award for Achievement in Media.

P4W explores the life stories of five women inside the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ont., which closed its doors after 66 years on July 6, 2000. "P4W reveals the human and emotional dimension of the women behind their prison life," said Henderson. "It is powerful and dramatic filmmaking."